Palliative and Supportive Care for Individuals with Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

Individuals with pancreatic adenocarcinoma experience a complex constellation of palliative and supportive care needs. Notably, when caring for patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma, clinicians must carefully assess and address these individuals' palliative and supportive care needs, as these can have important implications related to their treatment experience and care outcomes. Importantly, prior research has consistently demonstrated the benefits of palliative and supportive care interventions for patients with cancer to help address symptom burden, illness understanding, coping mechanisms, and informed decision making. However, much of this research did not specifically tailor the interventions to the unique concerns of a pancreatic cancer population. Thus, an urgent need exists to design and conduct rigorous research with the goal of enhancing care delivery and outcomes for the highly symptomatic population of individuals with pancreatic adenocarcinoma.